On this day in 1837, President Andrew Jackson appointed Alcée Louis La Branche to be the first diplomat from the United States to the Republic of Texas. As United States chargé d'affaires, La Branche...(Read More)

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FOSTER, JOSEPH BEVERLY

FOSTER, JOSEPH BEVERLY (1895–1949). Joseph Beverly (Joe B.) Foster, orthopedic surgeon, was born at Ennis, Texas, on January 28, 1895, the son of James Everett and Ann (Treadway) Foster. He attended Sterling City public schools, Abilene Christian College (now Abilene Christian University), and Austin College in Sherman. He received an M.D. from the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1920 and served an internship at St. Joseph's Infirmary in Houston. He then became a partner in the Houston Clinic. From 1927 to 1930 he attended Harvard Medical School for training in orthopedic surgery.

In Boston, Foster had appointments at both Massachusetts General Hospital and Children's Hospital. Upon returning to Houston, he established a private practice in orthopedic surgery. He was chief surgeon at Arabia Temple Shrine Crippled Children's Clinic, orthopedic consultant at M. D. Anderson Hospital for Cancer Research (now the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Centerqv) and the Veterans Administration Hospital in Houston (now the Veterans Affairs Medical Centerqv), consultant in orthopedic surgery at Brooke General Hospital (now Brooke Army Medical Centerqv) at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, and an active member of the staff at Methodist, Hermannqv, and Memorial hospitals in Houston, as well as at St. Joseph's Infirmary. From 1943 until his death he was professor of orthopedic surgery and chairman of the Department of Orthopedics at Baylor University College of Medicine.

Foster was the chairman of the advisory committee for the Harris County Chapter of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, the Texas Society for Crippled Children, and the Crippled Children's Division of the State Department of Health. He was a charter member of the Houston Surgical Society, as well as a charter member and president of the Texas Orthopedic Association. He belonged to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, the Harris County Medical Society, the Texas Medical Association, the American Medical Association, and the Texas Surgical Society.

Throughout his life he was active in the Church of Christ; he served many years as an elder at his church in Houston. He married Lucile Parrish of Sherman, whom he met at Abilene Christian College. They had no children. Foster died from a coronary thrombosis at his home in Houston on June 25, 1949.